These billowing, golden beauties are as delicious as they are photogenic. They remind me of a hybrid between a sugar doughnut and a cream puff: crisp on the outside, airy on the inside. What’s even more amazing is that these popovers are incredibly easy to make. The batter whizzes together in a blender, just like when making crêpes. Even better, this dessert comes with a show! Turn the light on in your oven, and watch these babies rise, rise, rise. Now that I finally have a fool-proof popover recipe (my last one was far too dense and is begging to be reworked), expect many more variations to come. But let’s ease in with the good stuff- vanilla bean, cinnamon, and sugar. Guaranteed to cause finger licking.

To make them, pre-heat your oven to 400° F. To a blender, add 3 large eggs, 1 cup of whole milk, 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 1 pinch of salt, 1.5 teaspoons of sugar, and the beans from one vanilla pod. Blend them together.

With the blender running, add in 140 grams (1 cup) of flour. Continue blending until the batter is well-combined.

Grease a popover pan, and fill each cup 2/3 of the way full. You should have exactly enough batter to fill all 6 cups. If you don’t have a popover pan, you could use a muffin tin, but your popovers will be smaller, and you’ll have more of them.

Bake the popovers for approximately 30 minutes (less if you’re using a muffin tin). Don’t open the oven door while the popovers rise, much like when making a soufflé. It’s really fun to watch them grow and brown.

While the popovers bake, melt 1/4 cup of butter (4 tablespoons) in a pan. In a side bowl, stir or shake together 1/3 cup of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Once the popovers are golden brown, remove them from the oven, and set them aside to cool. It was so difficult choosing which pictures to include with this post because there were so many delicious looking ones. I love how the popovers seem like they’re ready to burst open.

Once the popovers are cool enough to handle, remove one from the pan. Lightly brush the whole thing with the melted butter, and then turn it in the cinnamon sugar mixture to coat it well. Transfer the popover to a cooling rack, and repeat the sugaring process with the other ones. If you thought the popovers looked incredible right out of the oven, look at them now! Diamond encrusted…but edible!

The popovers are best served warm, but they’re not bad eaten the next day either. The outsides are perfectly crisp. Tear into them, and you’ll find airy, vanilla bean-flecked insides. These popovers BEG to be ripped open and gobbled up. Have at ’em! Now, I’m off to buy more eggs!

This recipe is adapted from David Lebovitz.

Shopping list:

• Eggs- 3
• Whole milk- 1 cup
• Butter- 6 tablespoons
• Sugar- 1/3 cup + 1.5 teaspoons
• Vanilla pod- 1 (or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract)
• Salt- pinch
• Flour- 1 cup
• Cinnamon- 1/2 teaspoon